GONIC – Josiah Hakala has designs on playing for pay some day, but for now he’s building quite a resume.
The 18-year-old defeated Ryan Scollins in the finals of the 122nd New Hampshire State Amateur Golf Championship, 2-and-1 on Saturday at Rochester Country Club.
“My ultimate goal is to play on the PGA Tour and play for majors,” Hakala said. “That’s what I’ve always wanted to do but you’ve got work your way up in little steps. It’s another step today.”
Along with the trophy and prestige that goes along with winning the grueling, six-day event, the confident Hakala also earned an exemption into next month’s U.S. Amateur where he will go up against some of the best amateurs in the world at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.
“It’s going to be awesome,” he said. “I can’t wait to get out there and showcase my talents and see how far we can take it out there. Honestly, the hardest thing about those tournaments is getting into them. I feel like that’s where I should be.”
Earlier this year he also won his fourth consecutive high school individual title in Division IV, the first time anyone has accomplished the feat in New Hampshire regardless of class.
Hakala reached the semifinals of last year’s State Am where he lost to eventual champion Rob Henley.
“I learned a lot from that and used a lot of that experience from last year today,” said Hakala, who helped Mascenic Regional High School win two Division IV state golf titles.
Hakala and Scollins are good friends.
“I’ve played a lot of rounds with him,” Scollins said. “He doesn’t miss shots. You can’t expect him to miss anything.”
Hakala qualified this year as the No. 2 seed going into match play while Scollins, 20, was the No. 5 seed. Leading 2-up, Hakala parred the next-to-last hole of the 36-hole event to clinch the victory.
“Any time you can end before 18 is great,” said Hakala, who plays out of Beaver Meadow Golf Course in Concord. “Winning the 16th hole of the second (18) to go 2-up with two to play was ideal.”
The turning point came toward the end of the opening 18 where Hakala went from 2-down to 2-up in a span of five holes, winning four holes with three birdies and a par during a decisive swing of momentum.
“I played some nice golf on that stretch,” he said. “To have any kind of cushion going into the second 18 was awesome. Ryan is a heck of a player and any kind of buffer you can get was really big. After that I really felt more in control. I didn’t feel like the match was ever going to get away from me.”
Although he never relinquished the precarious lead Hakala could never pull away as Scollins kept applying the pressure and during one stretch during the afternoon 18 pulled within 1-down.
“It was 2-up and the next thing I knew I was 2-down,” said Scollins, whose deepest run in the tournament before this was the round of 32.
Scollins, a rising junior in college at Holy Cross, was still within one hole as late as the 33rd hope until he made bogey on the 34th. That gave Hakala all the breathing room he needed to prevail.
“You can’t back off,” Hakala said. “You can’t let up anything. You’ve got to keep your foot on the throttle, and I felt like I did that really well. … I really felt like I didn’t miss a shot with my irons coming down the stretch and really liked the way I was hitting them under the pressure.”
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